Rogue (An Avengers Fanfic)

Chapter 53: Mind Control

"I thought I told you not to let anyone in?!" Jessica asked once she'd returned to Trish's apartment.

"It was Steve!" I argued. "How was I supposed to know that something was wrong?"

"When I said 'don't let anyone in', I meant, don't let anyone in!" she shouted.

"He's my friend!" I shouted back. OK, in hindsight, I never should have let him in. But Steve was usually the least harmful person on the planet, why was it my fault that someone had turned him into a maniac?

"When are you gonna understand this? When Kilgrave is around, you don't have any friends! Your friends, your boyfriend, your family aren't who you think they are! Kilgrave can manipulate anyone, make them do anything he says. He could have been watching you, seeing who your friends were. Now he knows exactly how to get to you!"

"I said I was sorry OK! What can I do now?" I asked, biting back the bitter taste of regret.

"You can promise that this will never happen again. Promise that you won't trust anyone apart from me and Trish – otherwise you'll put everyone you know in danger."

"I can't do that!" I argued. "What am I supposed to tell my friends, the rest of my team?"

"Nothing!" she shouted. "If they know about Kilgrave, he'll find out, and he'll send them to kill us. The last thing we need is the Avengers fighting against us!"

"But what about Bucky? He already knows," I reminded her. She thought for a second, before looking at Trish and then back to me.

"Make him forget."

"What?" I asked.

"You said you have the power of mind control. Make him forget about Kilgrave."

"I can't do that, he trusts me!" I argued.

"Wait, you have mind control?" Trish asked. For a second, I had forgotten that she was with us, listening to every word of the conversation. I nodded. "Can't you just... make Kilgrave forget who he is? Or that he has those powers?"

"I can't control someone who has mind control – our brains work differently to normal people," I answered.

"Does that mean that he can't control you?" Trish asked hopefully.

"If he's as strong as Jessica says he is-"

"He is," she clarified, glaring at me.

"Then no. From what I've heard, it sounds like a different kind of control. For me to control someone, I have to look them in the eyes, and they're in a sort of trance until I snap them out of it."

"Kilgrave doesn't need any of that," Jessica said. "He doesn't even have to look at you. He could control a group of people at once."

"So his is probably stronger than mine," I said. "But I can't do that to Bucky, he's already had his brain wiped more than once."

"If Kilgrave finds out, he'll control him, and he'll make him kill us. The safest thing for him, for us, is for you to make him forget that Kilgrave exists. You have no choice."

***

"Hey, where have you been?" Wanda asked, enveloping me in a hug as I walked through Pym's front door.

"Busy," I said quickly. "I'm not staying, I just need to speak to Bucky, is he here?"

"Yeah, in the kitchen. Why are you acting suspicious?"

"I'm not," I said.

"You know I can find out what it is?" she asked, referencing her own powers of being able to look into people's minds. The thought that maybe she could help us with Kilgrave popped into my head, but I couldn't ask her to do that.

"Trust me when I say that I can't tell you. I would if I could, you know that."

She looked suspicious, before admitting defeat and waving me through the house. "Be careful," she said from behind me.

"Hi," Bucky said, barely looking up as I came in.

"Hi," I said sheepishly, making way for the awkward silence that followed. "Can we talk... outside?"

He said nothing, getting up and following me silently.

"I know you're angry, and I'm sorry," I said immediately.

"Yeah, forgive me for not wanting my girlfriend to get involved with a deranged psychopath!"

"Look, I didn't come here to talk about Kilgrave."

"Did you come to say that you're taking my advice and not going after him?" he asked hopefully.

"I came because... I have to do something. And I want to tell you why before you... forget."

"What does that mean?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Kilgrave controlled Steve. If he finds out that you know about him, he'll control you and I don't want you to be involved in this. So I have to make you forget."

"Don't do this," he said. "We don't even know that Kilgrave really exists."

"I'm sorry," I said, before looking him in the eyes. "You'll forget Kilgrave exists, you'll forget everything about Jessica Jones. You'll remember that I've been doing secret work for Fury. I've been staying at SHIELD HQ and you know I'm OK, you're not worried about me. You'll remember that I love you, and that if I ever keep anything from you, it's to keep you safe. I might have to distance myself from you, from the team, for a while, but you know that I'm doing it for a good reason. Now, you'll go inside, and forget that I was here. We went out for lunch, like a proper couple, and it was delicious. Then you came back here and I went back to SHIELD and nothing's changed."

He broke away from me, his eyes glazed over as if he couldn't even see me. He turned and went back into the house, shutting the door behind him.

"Aw, how sad," someone said from behind me. I turned around and saw a tall, dark haired guy that I didn't recognise.

"Do I know you?" I asked, coming down the steps towards him.

"Stop there," he said. Automatically I stopped moving. It was like my legs had decided that they wouldn't work anymore, and my brain was completely okay with that decision. I had no choice in the matter. "Now, you're Hazel Miller, aka Rogue, correct?"

"Yes," I said.

"And that was your boyfriend, James Barnes, aka 'The Winter Soldier', correct?" he asked. I didn't answer. "Answer me!" he commanded.

"Yes, he is," I said, wondering why I couldn't hold the words in my mouth. As soon as he asked, they came tumbling out before I could stop them. That was when I worked it out. "You're Kilgrave?"

"Well yes, I assumed that was obvious." He chuckled. "What's not obvious is why, or how, you made him forget that I exist. Tell me the truth."

Again, the words came spilling out of my mouth. "Jessica said that if he remembered you, you'd use him against us. I was able to do it because I have the power of mind control."

"Interesting," he said with a grin. "And you're helping Jessica because...?"

"She said that she'll help me find my mother if I can prove that you exist. Are you going to kill me?" I asked, shaking.

"I don't kill people, Hazel, I just provide them with the means to kill themselves," his voice sent a chill down my spine. "But not now. I'm fascinated by you."

"What do you want from me?"

"Go to Jessica's apartment. Tell her that if she wants to find me, she has to go to my favourite restaurant – there'll be something waiting there for her," he said. "If she's not there, take a knife, and give yourself a cut for every 30 seconds that she's gone."

He turned on the spot and left me on the step. Immediately my legs started moving in the direction of Jessica's apartment, I couldn't stop them. I just hoped that Jessica was home when I got there...

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